if a spark can start inside your heart
by auroracode
Summary: The night of the Spring Fair, the Banks children are full of questions following Mary Poppins' departure and Jack finds himself the one responsible for answering them.


As much as he disliked the word, in Jack's opinion it was quite frankly impossible for a fair not to be fun; when surrounded by the colorful attractions and joyful sounds even the most sensible of adults couldn't fully keep their inner child suppressed. Their eyes would light up and for a moment in time, they'd forget their worries and just enjoy life, the way many of them hadn't in years.

Fair's didn't last forever though and eventually people began to make their way home, returning once more to a world of cares and strife; Leeries were no exception, even after a day of fun there were still lamps to be lit, but their memories were much longer than others, so it was with a spring in their step and a song in their heart that they went about their route that night. Not of course that that was unusual for Leeries, they were a cheerful group by nature, despite the hardships of their lives; it just so happened that on the current night that cheer had been lit a little brighter.

Jack, in particular, seemed to shine with happiness that evening, not that he fully realized it himself; for all his talk about being your own light and shining for the world to see, he never noticed just how much he lit up the lives of people around him. Sure, he knew he was pretty good at cheering people up and that he was genuinely pretty well-liked by the people by the people who knew him, but there were lots of little things here and there he missed. Like how he could have a first conversation with someone and they'd walk away feeling like they'd just had a chat with a longtime friend, or how the people he waved and said hello to on his morning route tended to have better days then if he hadn't, or the way people tended to instinctively trust him; all of those were things only visible from an outside perspective, not that it likely would have changed much if Jack had known, though it surely would have surprised him.

It really didn't matter in the long run though and so Jack rode his route that night oblivious to the effect he had on others as he called greetings to the few others out so late, and by the time he reached Cherry Tree Lane his good mood hadn't dimmed in the slightest; in fact if anything it had increased thanks to the Park Keeper actually giving him a nod in response to his greeting when he passed, rather than just ignoring him like he usually did. It still wasn't a smile, which Jack was determined to one day get from the man, but it was an improvement.

Bringing his bike to a stop outside of number 17, Jack unstrapped his ladder and leaned it up against the lampost; however before he could climb up it, the front door of the Bankes house swung open and a blond blur most commonly known as Georgie came rushing out.

"Jack, you're here!" The young boy called, taking the stairs two at a time as he ran to meet the Leerie at the base of his ladder

"'Ello Georgie, it's a bit late for you to still be up and about innit?" Jack greeted, smiling at the young boy. It wasn't altogether unusual for the Banks children to be awake when he came around to the light the lamps, there had been plenty of times they had waved to him from their window, but usually it was pretty clear that they were in the middle of getting ready for bed when they did so. On the current night though Georgie, as well as his siblings who Jack now noticed had followed him out, were all still fully dressed and very clearly not up in the nursery.

"Mary Poppins left today…" John began

"And Georgie was worried that you might have left too.." Annabel continued

"So we decided to stay up and make sure you weren't gone." John finished, looking a little embarrassed that they had been worried now that it was obvious Jack hadn't gone anywhere.

"I see," Jack said, nodding in understanding. It wasn't too surprising they had been worried if you thought about it, Mary Poppins didn't say goodbye when she left or explain why she was going usually; it was a course of action he didn't really agree with, but he could understand why she did it at least, goodbyes could be hard after all. Even though she loved them, she could never stay with the children for very long, there were too many others who needed her; taking the time to say goodbye just made it harder to go, even if not doing so was rough on the children and hard for them to understand. It could make them that other people they cared about would leave as well

Jack supposed he had been lucky when it came to that, he hadn't met Mary Poppins as one of her charges (though there had certainly been times during his childhood he could have used a nanny like her), but instead as an apprentice to Bert. Working with Bert meant he'd already heard tales of Mary Poppins long before meeting her and therefore it had not been as big of a shock when one day she was suddenly gone; it also didn't hurt that Bert had an uncanny ability to find her and get involved whenever she was around, which meant Jack had been lucky enough to encounter her more times than the average person. The children hadn't had his life experiences though.

"Not to worry, I'm not going anywhere." He assured them with a kind smile, and whatever worry had remained even after seeing him seemed to slip away and their frames relaxed; at least until Georgie, who was never one to hold back when he had a question, piped up again.

"Why did she leave?" He asked, sounding oh so young, that it made Jack's heartache.

"It's what she does." He said, not really knowing how else to say, "There are other families out there who need her." It was more complicated than that in some ways, but he didn't know how to explain it when he didn't even fully understand himself.

"She could have at least told us she was leaving, she didn't even say goodbye!" Annabel complained, her brothers nodding in agreement from their place beside her, and Jack let out a sad sigh

"Some people 'ave a 'ard time with goodbyes." He told them. "Mary usually lets people know 'ow long she's going to stay for though, surely she said something."

"She said….that she'd stay until the door opened." John slowly replied, "But there are lots of doors, what did she even mean?"

"The front door!" Georgie suddenly exclaimed, "It blew open for us when we got home, remember! And it was after that we noticed Mary Poppins was gone!"

"But the front door opened and closed plenty of times while she was here." Annabel pointed out

"Ah, but that was the first time it opened since you came 'ome." Jack reminded her, "Though I'd say there's more to it than that, there's often more than one meaning to things when it comes to Mary Poppins. What else 'appened today?"

There was a thoughtful silence as the children went over the days events in their heads, and Jack took advantage of it to climb his ladder and work on getting the lamp lit, just because it was the last stop on his route didn't mean it would do for him to let it remain dark for too long.

"Well…" Annabel began after a few minutes of thought and another few seconds of blinking in surprise at the realization that Jack was no longer standing in front of them, but instead above them, having been deep enough in thought that she missed his movement. "We all went flying on balloons, you already know that though. " She'd seen him up there with them, along with a good portion of the neighborhood as well; interestingly enough, now that she was thinking back to it, she realized that he'd spent most of the time side by side with their aunt.

Jane had said that they were just friends, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was possible that he might end up as their uncle someday; personally, she thought it would be wonderful to have him as part of the family. She supposed that was a thought for another day though.

"We returned to the house and got everything unpacked," John pondered out loud, "But that happened after she left, so it can't be that."

"Father and Aunt Jane remembered that everything they did with Mary Poppins as children really happened." Georgie offered, and Annabel thought she saw a twinkle in Jack's eyes as he climbed back down his ladder and turned to face them,

"Ah, there you go." He told them, "There's the other door."

An expression of confusion was mirrored on the faces of all three children as they stared up at Jack, trying to figure out what he meant.

"How can something like that be a door?" John questioned, his voice doubtful, almost like he thought Jack was messing with them.

"When people grow up a lot of the time they become sensible," Jack began, taking his ladder down and strapping it back onto his bike; he had a feeling he'd be on Cherry Tree Lane for a while longer, which was fine since he'd finished his route, but it was better to get things put away immediately rather than risk forgetting them. A Leerie without his ladder would have a hard job after all.

"Now there's nothing wrong with bein' sensible in and of itself, a little bit of sense can go a long way, but a lot of folks take it too far. They get older and 'ave responsibilities, and suddenly they think they don't 'ave time for fun anymore, that there are too many important things they need to do instead; and then all the magic and joy of childhood just doesn't seem to fit into their new logical world, so they lock it away."

He paused, checking to see if children seemed to be following him thus far; the three of them looked thoughtful, though still rather uncertain as to what any of it had to do with open doors.

"If they're lucky though, then someone or something who acts as a key will come along, and then that room in their 'eart where they've shut away all the non-sensible things and dismissed as part of their imagination, suddenly it's not locked anymore. And then the door to that room…."

"Can open!" The kids cried in unison, as they finally caught on to what Jack was trying to say.

"So then Mary Poppins left because we got our house back and father and Aunt Jane remembered?" Annabel asked, just to clarify, and Jack nodded.

"Exactly...well that's what I assume at least." He admitted, it wasn't like Mary had ever stopped and told him what her plans were, but he could infer things based on what he knew. "Mary doesn't usually show up just to 'elp the kids."

The Banks children nodded in understanding, it made sense to them, and Jack wasn't the type to lie. Suddenly John's eyes widened in realization as he thought of something,

"Father remembered because of the balloons, and there were lots of other adults up there as well. I bet they remember what it's like to be a child now too!" It was an exciting prospect for the children, they'd had a marvelous time with Mary Poppins and Jack, and already in the short time since their father and Aunt Jane had remembered what it was like to be a child, it was clear that there was a lightness to them that hadn't been there before. They could only imagine how wonderful it would be if the rest of the adults they knew also had that happen.

Jack, however, winced at their excitement; he too thought that it would be wonderful if all the adults remembered what had happened, but unfortunately, he knew better.

"I'm afraid by tomorrow the other adults will 'ave all forgotten about what 'appened today, or dismissed it as a dream."

"What!" The children's outburst at the new bit of information was louder then it was really polite for them to be at such a late hour, but also understandable given the circumstances. Of course not all the residents of number 17 Cherry Tree Lane seemed to agree with the reasonableness of such an outburst, as after a few moments the front door opened and Michael Banks stepped out, a stern expression on his face.

"I know I said you three could stay up to wait for Jack,, but that doesn't mean you should be noisy." He scolded, "Besides, it's quite late, now that you've seen Jack hasn't gone anywhere the three of you really should be getting to bed."

Even though he'd remembered what it was like to be a child, it hadn't changed the fact that he was a father and had a responsibility to take care of his kids; which meant making sure they got to bed at a decent hour.

"But dad, we can't go to bed yet." John complained, rather desperately "Jack needs to explain!"

"Explain?" Michael questioned, a confused expression on his face since he'd missed the conversation up that point.

"Jack said the adults will forget what happened today." Annabel told him, making a valiant effort to keep the worry out of her voice, but not managing to entirely succeed. Jack wasn't really sure how much of the alarm on Michael's face after hearing that was due to his daughter being upset and how much was due to the prospect of forgetting, but his expression was clearly worried.

"Forget? But we've only just remembered!" He exclaimed, sounding even more upset then his children had been.

"I think you and Jane should be fine." Jack quickly interjected, trying to reassure him. "From what I've 'eard the two of you went on some grand adventures with Mary Poppins yourself, and now that you've remembered they were real, it'll be 'arder for you to forget. Plus you've got the children to help you remember."

Micheal looked rather relieved by Jack's assurances, but the children were not entirely satisfied.

"Why will the rest of the adults forget than?" Demanded Georgie, "Is it because they didn't have Mary Poppins for a nanny?"

Jack hesitated, not entirely sure what to say.

"I don't know." He finally admitted, hating that he didn't have an answer to give them. "All I know is that while people who've spent time with Mary may forget the magic once, they rarely do twice." The children didn't look particularly satisfied with his answer, then again neither was he, but they seemed to realize it was the best they were going to get.

"What about you?" John asked suddenly, and Jack's eyebrows furrowed in confusion

"Me?"

"You weren't at all surprised by anything Mary Poppins did, so obviously you never forgot. Was she your nanny too?" Jack shook his head,

"No, she was never my nanny."

"Then how come you've never forgotten?"

"Well…" The simple answer would be that he was a Leerie, which while not the whole reason, was a large part of it. Leeries had a magic of their own, which made it rather hard to forget that magic existed; there were rules about talking about that though, so he wouldn't be able to explain why being a Leerie made a difference to them and that wouldn't do. He was no Mary Poppins, if someone genuinely wanted to know something and he could explain, he usually did his best to. Which meant he'd have to come up with a different answer. "When I was younger I was apprenticed to a Chimney Sweep." He told them, or it the children's case reminded since he'd mentioned it in passing before back when Mary Poppins had first arrived.

"His name was Bert and 'e was a good friend of Mary Poppins, still is." At the sound of Bert's name he noticed Michael's eyes widen in surprise, it seemed he remembered the Chimney Sweep that had often watched out for him and his sister. That was good, Bert had always been fond of the two of them, it would have been a shame if they'd forgotten him. "He was always right lucky when it came to bein' around when she turned up, so I got to meet 'er several times. That's made it rather 'ard to forget."

There was more to it than that really, like how Bert had taught him much more than just how to sweep chimneys or how their relationship had evolved to become more like a father and son than a teacher and apprentice; or how he was fairly certain that Mary had been far more than just a friend to Bert despite them never saying as much, and how that and his connection to Bert had resulted in a much closer relationship with the nanny than most people got to have. That information was rather personal, and as friendly as Jack was, he'd never been the type of person who could easily blurt out the things he held close to his heart; someday maybe, if they specifically asked he'd tell them more, but not on the current night.

Luckily the children seemed satisfied with his answer, though he was sure once they'd had time to think they'd probably come up with more questions; that was just the way children were, always hungry for knowledge. It was a pity so many people lost that trait as they got older.

"Now," Jack said, suddenly clapping his hands together and making the children jump. "While I'd be more than 'appy to stand 'ere talking you all night, as I recall your father wanted you in bed and it wouldn't be nice to ignore him."

"Jack's right." Michael agreed, giving the lamplighter a grateful smile, "I've already let you stay up far longer than I should have, but it's time for the three of you to be getting to sleep." Unlike earlier, none of the Banks children argued with their father about being sent to bed, though it was clear to see that they would much rather not go; still, they obeyed regardless, waving goodbye to Jack as they headed inside. Their father turned to follow them but paused before entering the house and turned back to face the lamplighter,

"If you're free sometime, I'd love to hear what Bert is up to these days. He was always kind to us as children." He told Jack, before smiling mischievously, "And I'm sure Jane would love to hear about it as well."

Jack grinned,

"I would be delighted to."


End file.
